One of the most difficult things that we can do in life is be a parent. Being there emotionally for your child in a positive way with infinite patience is often our ideal, but this can be hard to achieve and maintain throughout the day. Your patience wears thin while your children test and push your boundaries. One child may be irritated with another, or be instigating the other child to push your boundaries even further. Once you have become irritable, it is hard to go back to a loving and caring state for your children.

You know you want to respond to your kids' needs with more loving kindness; if only there were a magic pill that could help you stay calm when they are pushing your buttons! In fact, there are many homeopathic remedies that parents can use for emotional support. This article focuses on four remedies that are useful for parents who have difficulty managing their anger or irritability with their children. Homeopathic remedies are very gentle and they are safe to take while breastfeeding.

Ignatia Amara

If you feel like you are often getting angry with your children, and occasionally yelling at them, then this remedy is for you. Ignatia will help you if you are the type to get more stressed as the day goes on with your kids. You become angry because your children are doing things that go against your wishes, like when they are too slow getting ready to leave the house or when they throw food on the floor. When they contradict you it infuriates you, like when you say to come here and they run away. You might even feel shocked at what they do!

Emotions can rapidly change: You are not sure how to feel about these situations. For instance, you might bounce from anger to sadness from being angry to regret back to anger.

​Sighing: You often take deep breathes through stressful situations.

Losing something dear: Seeing your favorite headphones broken on the floor, realizing that you can no longer go to the movies to relax, seeing that your body just isn't returning to its former size and shape, or the loss of a loved one. Thinking of these things makes you sad and/or irritable towards your family.

Headaches caused by anger.

Bryonia Alba

You are very irritable, and it gets worse every time you have to move to do something. You can keep your irritability in check, so long as you don't move. Then you hear your children getting into something that they shouldn't be getting into (contradiction), which drives you to get up to stop them. You may get headaches after you get angry, or from not getting enough sleep the night before. Getting some alone time would really help.

Worse any motion: You get more upset every time you have to get up to do something.

Headaches from anger or lack of sleep.

Wants to be left alone.

Anxiety about the future/money: This can come when you give birth to your child, or when you think about money issues. If you have a job, then you might dwell on issues from work.

Sick on the weekends: You may get sick when you can finally let your guard down, which can be on the weekend or when you finally get a sitter for a couple of hours.

Nux Vomica

You get irritated more from the messes your children make, when you are trying to get your children to an event on time, or when your children are just too loud. When you get irritated, you focus on that one thing that is irritating you. You get irritable when you are over stimulated.

Worse from irritations or over stimulation: Such as messes, noise, dirty things.

Workaholic: This can be for a paid job, self run business, or for cleaning the house. This can be in bursts or continuously.

Constipation, Colic, or Gas.

Disturbed sleep: Loss of sleep makes you irritable. This can be from being up with a child, too much coffee/alcohol, noises, or thinking too much.

Headaches caused by anger.

Chamomilla Vulgaris

You can get really angry and frustrated with your children, or anyone for that matter. You may have noticed that your fuse is much shorter after a cup of coffee. You are sensitive to pain, noises, music, and digestive disturbances such as colic or diarrhea. You can get angry about breastfeeding: you don't want to be touched, you don't want to be looked at!

Anger and irritability: You can get angry about being angry.

Sensitive to pain, noise, music, colic, diarrhea.

Aversion to being touched or looked at.

Can't sleep from anger.

Headaches caused by anger.

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